July is coming to an end...

Well, I'm at 36 weeks now...and my doctor said that once August hits, if I go into early labor, she wouldn't stop it. YEAH! Not yeah about the childbirth part, but yeah that it's almost time for our baby to arrive! We are getting very excited. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. Baby time also means back to work time for me.....school starts August 18th and I have a bunch of teacher prep stuff to do before that date. Luckily, i'll only be back for one week before my maternity leave begins, but still...the stress and changes and stuff that each new school year brings makes me so nervous!
On a side note, Saturday was our lamaze class. Yikes....pray for me. I'm so scared about giving birth. SO SCARED. ahahah I've had numerous people remind me it will be okay and that these doctors and nurses are very experienced and they, along with God, will help me through it! I just can't wait for it to be over with! :-)
Happy Tuesday!

The past week...

Well, we've wrapped up our travels for now until our baby is born. I had such an AWESOME time with my friends last weekend. We met up for our annual weekend in Merrillville, Indiana this time so that I didn't have to travel far. Let's just say our first hotel that we booked online was HORRIBLE. After being assigned to 3 different rooms and the manager trying to get us to go to a fourth room, we got our money back and decided to search for another hotel. Some soccer conference was going on or something because everything in the area was booked. Mary and Brooke worked hard to find us a room while we ate at Cracker Barrel on Friday night, and luckily, this crazy fiasco turned into a blessing! When it was all said and done, we ended up in a nice, clean, modern hotel for even cheaper than we had planned.....with a buffet breakfast too! YEAH! The girls had a suprise baby shower for me....fondue, games, gifts. We also of course did our traditions of a Panera lunch, trip to Maggie Moos for ice cream, Sunday church at a random church we find once we're in our meeting place, and pizza and board games in the hotel Saturday night. Somehow we didn't get kicked out for being SO LOUD from laughing! (Have you ever played the game, "Pit?") It was so much fun!
On Sunday when we all went our separate ways, instead of going home, I drove towards the big, windy city. Jason had a conference for work at the downtown Chicago Marriott hotel, so I went to hang out with him. I literally had 3 days to be as lazy as I wanted. The king bed was SOOOOOOOOOO comfortable. I slept in, read Karen Kingsbury books, and watched tv. At night when Jason was out of meetings we'd go eat at some of our favorite Chicago restuarants: Gioradono's pizza, Grand Lux Cafe, and California Pizza Kitchen. This is probably the last relaxing I'll be doing for a long time! I'm so thankful for the time I had to be a bum!
It's great to be back home to our boys! We missed them!
Here's some pics from our trips...
The baby shower...

Yummy Fondue!

Me, Mary, and Brooke

Michelle and Jayme at "Old Time Pottery" (Thanks for recommending this store Kristin!)

Maggie Moos! YUMMY!

Us minus Brooke (she's taking the pic) at the hotel

All of Us....

The awesome view from our downtown hotel room...

I loved this bed! Not sure why the picture is coming out sideways though...

34 weeks....

Here's the latest belly shot. I've gotten a lot bigger in the past few weeks and I'm feeling it by the time night time comes! Also, since I posted about Byson yesterday, it's only fair to post about Reggie. He looks like a little rat now...he had to get mostly shaved today at the groomers because he was too matted (oops, we're bad parents who don't brush our dog enough and wait too long to get him haircuts ahahah)!!!!! Oh well, it's summer and he probably feels so much better without all that hair!

Sick Puppy...

Poor Baby!


Daddy let him lay on the couch for once!

I wish all of you who have met Byson in person could see him when he's this cute and calm. We think he's not feeling very well tonight...he's just laid still and has been pretty quiet...AND...he's not been licking much of anything (anyone who knows him knows that's not normal!)

Yikes!

OK, so I'm praying this baby comes early so I have more time with her before returning to work, but I'm also having nightmares of her coming early. I'm scared I'll be out of town or won't be able to get ahold of Jason. I'm starting to panic about the pain and the scariness of giving birth (not that I truly know what to expect). Then I get the thoughts that I have no idea how to be a mom or how to raise an newborn. I guess once it happens, they say you just know and have mommy instincts, but ugh........then I remember how tired I am during the school year and all the work it brings and I hope that our baby knows me! Soon oh soon....this will all just be a memory! I can't wait for her to just be here! We're down to 44 days (6 weeks left). 44 days sounds shorter than 6 weeks to me....and then I start thinking...she could come earlier, and then I realize this is going to happen before I know it!
OH, and Jason and I were sitting in the living room the other night and talking about how much our baby weighs right now and her approximate length. Then he asked what is an average length for a baby at birth. After I told him, he did the math and reminded me that this little one probably has another 4 inches and 3 pounds to go in the next 6 weeks. How in the world........where is she going to fit!??? AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! ahahah This is crazy!

I love power...

So after losing power for 18 hours, I've decided that I'm very thankful for the invention of electricity. :-) Candles don't provide enough light! That was my reminder of the week...short and sweet.

FREE dinner and limo ride...I love free things!

So about two months ago, I attended a teacher appreciation karate night for two of my students. There was a drawing there for a free dinner and limo ride, and I WON! Last night was the night. I could take a guest, so of course, I chose Jason. ahahaha We had a great time and ate great food at a local restaurant. The limo driver took a few pictures of us...and I took some too for your enjoyment. Ha!

One month from today...

Today is July 8th. That means in exactly one month, our baby is going to be born! I had a talk with her last night about how she needs to come on August 8th....and if she's like me, she'll want to please everyone and never do wrong....so she'll hopefully decide to obey and arrive then! ahhaahha Since my favorite number is 8, it would just be cool to have a baby on 08-08-08 maybe at 8am or something...but she WILL NOT weigh 8 pounds. That's the only area I told her she's okay to keep away from 8's. Maybe she'll weigh 6 pounds 8 ounces. ahahah If not the 8th, i did tell her the 18th would be okay too....

Family Fun!

We had a great time in Tennessee with Jason's family. We were on Norris Lake in a big house boat. It was very relaxing and the weather and food were great! :-) Here are some shots from the trip...( I guess i didn't even get an outside view of the boat or its cute little water slide!!!! I didn't get a shot of what our view looked like from the boat either! I'm a horrible camera lady!)


Colin being cute...

Random shot showing the inside of the boat...

Jason, Brad, and Krista fishing...

Us driving home (we were in five states in one day!) UGH, long trip. Lets just say my tailbone HATED me!

Kitchen...

Alana being SO cute!

The stairs to our downstairs room...yes, I know, it's a mess! Sorry!

Some of the gang swimming next to the boat...

Jason being cute...

Me in my polka dot suit...32 weeks